


rosamund

by kamja



Series: Fairy tale rewrites [1]
Category: Arashi (Band), Fairy Tales and Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Fantasy, M/M, Non-Consensual Touching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-04
Updated: 2013-06-04
Packaged: 2017-12-13 23:37:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/830151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kamja/pseuds/kamja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jun disappears into the forest, and Ohno sets out to find him. Loosely based on Sleeping Beauty.</p>
            </blockquote>





	rosamund

**Author's Note:**

> For reference, Carabosse and Lilac are the fairies in Tchaikovsky's _Sleeping Beauty_. Additional inspiration came from DM Cornish's _Monster Blood Tattoo_ series.

Jun had been missing for 3 months, now that Ohno stopped and counted the days.

He stood on the stile separating the village grazing commons from the Dark Wood. The land was wild beyond there; only the bravest ever thought of venturing past the line of scraggly bushes that eventually gave way to the ancient pines soaring towards the heavens like great pillars. No one actually saw Jun disappear, but when they found his goat herd wandering by itself in the commons after dark, there was only one conclusion to be drawn from it.

They said Jun had been snatched by the forest.

Ohno chewed on a blade of grass, catching a passing scent of the sweet wheat fields to the west of the village. His herd, now doubled because he took over Jun’s goats, placidly searched the ground for midsummer clover. He looked over his shoulder to make sure they didn’t wander too far, and when he turned back to the forest, he saw a figure emerging from the trees.

The hair on the back of Ohno’s neck stood up in an instant. A shiver started at the very base of his spine, trilling up like a child’s broomstick as she played along a fence while sweeping, hitting every post. He stumbled backwards off the stile. His heavy brown boots tripped over each other and he fell flat on his back. The wind knocked out of him, he raised his head and watched helplessly as the figure drew closer. Then, as recognition sank in, he scrambled to his feet.

“Jun?”

He wanted to rush forward, but then he caught himself, because they said witches and evil spirits took all sorts of forms. His heart beating like a drum, he gulped the warm afternoon air hungrily as the figure drew even closer.

Jun stopped when he reached the stile. His hair was disheveled, but he appeared to have been eating and keeping clean. His clothes were torn in a few places. There was a cloudy look in his eyes. Ohno looked at his mouth, because that’s where he always looked whenever Jun was near. The rosy lips were still round and whole.

“Ohno,” they said, and that was all Ohno needed. He took one step and jumped the stile.

He didn’t care if no one else believed him. He knew it was Jun, and that was enough. Ohno held him close, the feeling of Jun’s body against his own flooding his senses like water on a parched throat. He buried his face into Jun’s shoulder, closing his eyes as he took in the wild, frightening smell of the Dark Wood. Underneath it, he picked up that heartachingly familiar strain that was only Jun.

Ohno opened his eyes. He was in bed. He rolled over and sighed, feeling the dream drain away. He took a deep breath and smelled nothing but the damp mustiness of his thatched roof. The last stars in the sky were just beginning to fade as the early dawn approached. Ohno sat up and signed again. He rubbed his face with one hand and got to work.

When the morning chores were done, he went to call on Jun’s mother as usual. She was getting on in years, and often had trouble drawing up water from the well on her property. Ohno was bringing up the filled bucket when Jun’s mother turned towards the Dark Wood.

“Sometimes goats find their way back, when they get lost in there,” she said this from time to time. The early breeze ruffled the edge of her soft green shawl. A few hens conspired among themselves as they scratched the earth for grubs.

“They do indeed,” Ohno agreed, though both of them knew that more often than not, the lost goats simply disappeared if they ever got past the fence. They repeated this exchange just to convince themselves, it seemed. The other villagers had given up on Jun long ago.

“I can’t let him go, not just yet,” she said then, and Ohno didn’t know how to respond, because it was a mother’s pain he couldn’t feel. She had a tired look about her, as if something had worn away from the waiting. Then he thought of those days when they’d watched the clouds together, and harvested the hay together, and whispered secrets to each other in the middle of the night, and he realized something.

“Me neither.”

Ohno herded the goats into the commons and he took his usual place on the stile. He watched the goats for some time as he whittled a spoon, his back turned towards the forest. Not too far away, some of the villagers were digging a trench and chatting loudly. By and by, they stopped their work to take a lunch break. Ohno didn’t move, continuing to whittle and feeling the new silence surround him. As he smoothed the spoon handle, he heard a distant tinkling behind him. A feeling of trepidation instantly filled his chest with lead. He turned around slowly.

The pines were there, dark and silent as always.

Ohno bit his lower lip. The expression on his face darkened as he contemplated the trees. From time immemorial, the forest was the most frightening thing in his world. But today, the darkness beyond didn’t seem to have the same effect on him. He didn’t have a reason to be scared, if Jun was in there.

Putting the spoon and his knife in his pocket, he stepped over the stile and towards the Wood.

*

The tingling air made Ohno’s skin twitch. It wasn’t windy, but everything creaked around him, the trees leaning this way and that. Every now and then, something would rustle in the underbrush but nothing came forward to terrorize him. He’d felt the change as soon as he’d stepped under the shade of the pine trees. The ancient wood was watching him. The heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach festered.

The sun was high in the sky by now, but the light filtered in weakly through the canopy, so the forest floor was perpetually in a smoky twilight. For lack of a better thing to do, Ohno ran through the various stories he’d heard from the villagers in his head. The forest was said to be inhabited by all manner of tree spirits, witches, enchanted beasts and elves. Most of them were malevolent, but it was also said that there was one good faerie named Lilac. All the food in the forest was faerie food; one bite would put the taster under a spell. Children who ate certain fruits became goblins and never returned home; goblins who ate other fruits became changeling children who would come to the village to live among the humans. 

Ohno eyed a hole in the ground suspiciously, wondering if something would come out, and continued scanning the area for any clues to Jun’s whereabouts. Overhead, he felt the rush of wings as a pair of birds flew off deeper into the forest. Ohno’s gaze followed them and that was when he saw the wild cherry tree.

It was a giant, ancient tree with limbs twisted like the arthritic fingers of an old man. A thick hedge of gorse surrounded the trunk, the pretty bright yellow flowers hiding the numerous sharp thorns that stuck out like pike blades. It grew straight up, towering over any man. Ohno looked up at the tree in wonder. The top disappeared into the canopy, but several thick branches hung low enough for Ohno to touch them. They were heavy with shiny red fruit. Ohno could see his reflection on them, and they seemed to beckon voicelessly. He reached up to grab them as if in a trance, but suddenly came to his senses and snatched his hand back. His fingertips slapped the gorse hedge and he felt the sting of a thorn pricking his finger.

He looked at the wound, and three drops of blood fell from this fingertip onto the mossy ground. A heartbeat passed, and the gorse hedge pulled back to create an opening. Ohno peered through the opening and saw Jun laying there in a hollow of the tree’s massive roots. He ran forward without thinking and was by Jun’s side in an instant.

“Jun!” Ohno shook Jun’s shoulder, but he didn’t wake. Ohno looked mournfully at Jun’s face. His lips were stained red, and Ohno knew. That heavy knot in his stomach twisted. He leaned forward and held Jun, as if his touch could erase what was already done. Like the dream, that wild forest scent was on him and it lingered in Ohno’s mind. Jun had eaten the cherries. 

“The thorns obey the blood of one with pure intentions.”

Startled, Ohno turned around to come face-to-face with a woman who seemed at once terrifying and beautiful. Her eyes blazed like candlelight and her long hair rippled loose over her shoulders. Her long dress trailed on the ground behind her as she approached him. Ohno’s breath caught in his throat. He knew that she must be the spirit living in the cherry tree.

“Is he precious to you?” she continued, looking at Jun with a strangely tender expression. Her voice was heavy yet soft. She stood over them and Ohno thought he could feel the air shift around her.

“Yes,” Ohno finally regained his speech. His breaths came fast and short. “Will he ever wake?”

“He ate my cherries, so I needed to punish him. But he’s a pretty thing, isn’t he,” the spirit sighed and looked away, as if she wasn’t used to these sort of human feelings. “I think I will keep him instead. He will stay with me for eternity.”

“Please, let me take him back,” Ohno blurted out. He didn’t know what else to do. He didn’t have any gifts to offer her and he certainly wasn’t strong enough to defeat her.

The spirit’s expression turned cold. “You can’t have my rose-mouth. My rosamund.”

“Take me instead. Let him go,” Ohno jumped up recklessly and plucked a cherry from the branch overhead. The tart juice filled his mouth as he chewed the fruit.

The spirit watched him narrowly, and he stared back. There was nothing but the pit on his tongue. Suddenly she laughed, the musical sound filling every inch of the space between them. “I don’t want _you_.”

She raised one hand. A strong wind came up and Ohno reflexively blocked his face with his arms. When he lowered them, he was on the outside of the hedge again and everything was quiet. The mist didn’t look disturbed at all. Ohno ran a circle around the tree, but there was no way back in. The opening had closed up.

He struck the hedge with his finger, pricking it anew and letting the blood fall on the ground like before. The hedge didn’t move. Ohno whirled around him in a panic. He’d found Jun, but couldn’t reach him. He looked up at the tree’s branches and felt the cherries mocking him. He had eaten the faerie food too, but even that couldn’t help Jun.

“He’s lost, isn’t he,” Ohno whispered. He turned back towards the way he came. There was no sign of the village, this deep into the Dark Wood. He closed his eyes, trying to drain away the image of Jun laying on the other side of the hedge with his red mouth. He had to forget and return somehow. The forest settled around him, watching.

He sighed. “I can’t.”

Then he remembered something.

_Lilac._

He had no idea how to find her, but if she really was the only good faerie in the Dark Wood, she could help him. Ohno set off deeper into the forest.

*

Ohno woke up on a bed of rushes. The stars swirled above him, and the air was filled with the sound of crickets. He sat up and saw that he was near a marshy clearing in the forest. It had been four days since he found Jun within the gorse hedge. He’d been wandering the Dark Wood this whole time. Amazingly, he had not encountered a single living creature.

“How are you feeling, child?”

The voice sounded familiar and musical. He turned and there was a woman with long dark hair by his side. Her manner was gentle and she smiled slightly at Ohno.

He looked at her in wonder. She was so beautiful that his breath hitched in his throat. “A-are you Lilac?”

“Yes. Have you been looking for me?” Lilac placed a vessel of water beside him. “You fainted not too far from here.”

Ohno felt a rush of relief as Lilac continued. “It’s a wonder that none had tried to snatch you away while you slept.”

He took a sip of water and didn’t know how to respond to his. The knot of fear he’d carried in his stomach since entering the forest had grown smaller recently. For some reason, he began to feel more at ease in the Dark Wood. He put those thoughts to the side and turned to the most important task at hand. “Please, I beg a boon of you.”

Lilac nodded gracefully. “Yes, I see all that passes in this forest. Carabosse holds someone dear to you.”

“Carabosse?”

“She is the spirit of that cherry tree. Even the denizens of this forest do not venture near her gorse hedge.”

“She has Jun under a spell. She said it was for all eternity,” Ohno knitted his eyebrows together. “Please, is there anything you can do?”

Lilac sighed in sympathy. “Carabosse possesses deep and strong magic. I do not have the strength to defeat her completely.”

Ohno’s face fell. He bit his lip and turned the cup of water in his hand. There was no one left besides Lilac.

“But do not despair, child,” Lilac lifted his chin with one hand. “I may yet soften the spell. But in return, you must give me something precious.” 

“What?” Ohno asked, his eyes flashing with renewed hope.

“Hmm, it is something valuable to me, but I think you do not even know you possess it. Will you give it to me? I think you would come to no harm if you parted with it.”

Puzzled but trusting Lilac’s word, Ohno nodded gravely. He didn’t fear her, and besides, he was ready to give anything for Jun’s sake.

“Come here, child.”

Ohno drew close, his eyes fixed on Lilac’s face. He felt his body tremble uncontrollably as she stroked his cheek with her slim white hand. She smelled of flowers, but it mingled with the damp grasses of the marsh and the unmistakable frightening scent of the Dark Wood. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. The soft dark curls of her hair tickled his face. Ohno closed his eyes, feeling a strange pull from deep within him.

Something seemed to pass from him to Lilac, for she gasped and parted her lips. She increased the pressure and then pulled away, her eyes glittering in the dim light. Her face was flushed. Ohno brought a hand up to his mouth. His lips felt heavy and they prickled with the sensation of magic. He looked at Lilac questioningly.

“Take that spell to him.”

Ohno went off in the direction that Lilac pointed, back to Jun.

*

The journey back seemed to go much quicker. Ohno didn’t tire as he walked all day. Whereas he noticed every rustling in the brush before, he no longer felt bothered by many sounds. He wondered if Lilac’s spell worked like some sort of protection charm. Previously, he had gone in a circle for two days, but now the terrain changed constantly.

He stopped to sit for a while under an oak tree. He noticed some common mushrooms that he knew would be safe to eat. Since eating that cherry, Ohno no longer felt concerned about faerie food. He reasoned that he was already under some spell, so there was no sense worrying. However, accidentally consuming toxic mushrooms was a different matter. Taking the knife in his pocket, he sliced the mushrooms cleanly at the stalk.

The Dark Wood was quite beautiful, now that he’d gotten used to it. Flowers bloomed vibrantly and rock formations created architectural shapes among the hills and valleys of the forest floor. He noticed some animals in the distance, picking at some shrubs. They turned around, and suddenly Ohno saw that they were little men-shaped beings dressed in shifts made of birch-bark. Wood elves.

They took one look at him and quickly scurried away. The rustling sounds of the brush kicked by their feet seemed louder than usual to him.

Ohno had never heard of elves being afraid of humans. As a matter of fact, humans had to be afraid of _them_.

He shook his head, munching on a mushroom. Lilac’s spell must be strong.

The next morning, he came up to the top of a hill and saw the cherry tree down below. Ohno gave a whoop and rushed down, his boots skidding on the damp leaves that covered the ground. He approached the tree cautiously, looking for signs of Carabosse. A circuit around the gorse showed no openings or gaps. Ohno reached out his hand, wondering if his blood would work this time.

However, the hedge pulled back before he could get close enough to touch them. Ohno stepped through and saw no one there but Jun. He was still fast asleep. Ohno sat down among the mossy roots next to him. He gently brushed a fallen leaf out of Jun’s hair. Tiny drops of morning dew encrusted Jun’s delicate lashes like jewels. The spell grew heavy on Ohno’s lips. He bent down slowly.

Jun’s rosy mouth tasted just like cherries. Ohno slipped the tip of his tongue over Jun’s lips, licking the juice that stained them. He whined a little under his breath, the memory of Jun’s mouth welling up inside him. The hungry kisses they’d exchanged in the past reignited like a flame. He kissed Jun harder, not even aware of whether or when Lilac’s spell had found its final target. Drunk on the feeling of Jun’s body heat beneath him, Ohno mindlessly kissed the tender skin on Jun’s throat, barely curbing the urge to nip it with his teeth.

He yanked at Jun’s shirt desperately, pulling it up and digging his fingers underneath the waistband of Jun’s pants. He brushed the familiar, sharp curve of the hip and sighed into the bend where Jun’s neck met his shoulder. The scent of hay and herbal liniment had faded somewhat, but it was there, refusing to be overtaken by the Dark Wood. Ohno revelled in it. He didn’t hear the rustling behind him. 

“Why did you return?”

Carabosse’s voice cut across the fog in Ohno’s mind like a scythe. Breathing heavily, he sat up and looked at Jun guiltily. He had no idea what came over him. It was as if some instinct inside him had broke the surface and he couldn’t press it back down. He quickly straightened out Jun’s clothes. Behind him, he could feel Carabosse looking at Jun.

“You’ve been to see Lilac,” she finally said, pronouncing every word as if they were made of stone.

“Yes,” Ohno stood up and looked at her defiantly. The aggressiveness rose up within him unbidden, and he nearly took a step back at the feeling. “I’ve come to save him.”

Carabosse didn’t seem to notice his bravado. Her bright eyes didn’t leave Jun. “And what did she take from you as payment?”

Ohno fell silent, suddenly deflated. He still didn’t know.

“Something precious, for such a spell,” Carabosse drew closer and scrutinized Ohno. When he didn’t respond, she continued. “You don’t know yet, do you?”

Ohno looked down at his hands and was startled to find that they were covered with fine black hair. Alarmed, he raised his sleeves and saw the skin sprouting even more hair.

“My cherry had no effect on you,” Carabosse seemed a little self-satisfied. “There are only a few reasons why that would be.”

“Why?” Ohno echoed, not comprehending. The beating of his heart was deafening. So this was what happened in the Dark Wood. “What did she do to me?!”

“Tell me, do mortals wander this forest unharmed?” Carabosse ignored Ohno’s panic and pointed to Jun. “What makes you different from my rosamund?”

Suddenly, she was inches from his face. She reached up and touched his forehead, bringing to his attention two tender lumps. The look in her eyes was unknowable. Ohno reached up in trepidation, but he somehow already knew what they were.

Horns.

“Did the forest not frighten you, when you entered it?” she whispered. For some reason, she didn’t seem unkind as she said it, and Ohno realized that she sounded much like Lilac. “Did it frighten you even less when you left Lilac?”

Ohno was shaking all over when he remembered something he was thinking about just a few days ago. It was just a fireside story told by the elders to frighten the children. He looked at his hands again. The nails were beginning to thicken like bark on a young tree. 

Sometimes, the forest creatures gained humanity and lived among people as changeling children.

Lilac didn’t lie; what she took wouldn’t bring him harm. She was just returning him to his natural state. He had completely forgotten his life before the village. He had taught himself to fear the Dark Wood like the others.

“Did the spell work?” he finally choked out, and he noticed that his voice took the same deep tone that belonged to all denizens of the Dark Wood. It sounded as ancient as the land itself.

Carabosse tossed her head in an annoyed gesture, the tendrils of her hair flicking back. “Yes. He’s mine only for one hundred years. After that, he will wake.”

Ohno sighed. It was not eternity, so he supposed he couldn’t complain.

“But you’ll be there,” Carabosse filled in the next thought in his head. “Because our kind live to watch the rise and fall of kingdoms.”

She stepped back then and appraised him. She had a teasing look on her face. “And what will he say, when he sees you like this?”

Ohno stumbled back, the realization stinging throughout his body. In one hundred years, Jun was going to wake up alone. Everyone and everything he had ever known in the village would be gone. His mother would wait for him and never know what became of him. The only one left would be a black, horned beast with blazing eyes.

“Can I reclaim it? Can I...” he stopped short, placing his face in his hands. Would the memories of his human life fade as well? Would he forget Jun, when the time came?

“Well, you gained humanity once before,” and it was clear from Carabosse’s tone that she didn’t understand why anyone would _want_ to go back to being human. “But it’s a difficult thing to obtain. Why else would Lilac demand it for payment?”

Ohno looked up. The horns had sprouted, the broken skin stinging. He felt unbalanced, unaccustomed to their weight. His vision suddenly seemed sharper in the dim forest light. The magic of the land seemed to buzz under his skin, and it felt like he could just make out its shape, crisscrossing like a web. He looked at Jun, who remained there sleeping. He was determined.

“I’ll come back for my rosamund.”

He was never going to let go.

Ohno reached into his pocket and took out the half-finished spoon. He placed it in Jun’s hand. With a swift pull, he took a button from Jun’s shirt and clasped it tightly. The well-worn piece of bone pressed against his palm as he looked down on Jun’s sleeping face once again. When he turned to go, Carabosse was nowhere to be seen.

The morning dew had gathered into a dense mist, swirling around his feet as he disappeared deeper into the Dark Wood.


End file.
